Good morning everyone, I'm an alcoholic and my name is Geoff. Before I came into these rooms, I had only one slogan: 'Who, me? Nahhh!' But in my earlier days of sobriety, one slogan kept catching my eye: 'Think! Think! Think!' Then I soon realized I couldn't do three things at once, so I gave that one up and picked the slogan: 'One Day at a Time.' It's the only slogan that makes sense to me, and gets me through each day. But lately, I have seized on a slogan that I keep repeating to myself, and I recommend to you: 'How Important Is It?' You have no idea how many things happen to me throughout the day, little things that can really irritate and upset my sobriety, that cause me to think, 'How important is it?' In the Great Scheme of Things, how important, really, is the lady who slows up the express lane in the local supermarket, counting out her nickels and pennies, and causing swearing and foot stamping among the rest of us? How important is the one driver in the morning rush hour who has delayed my trip by, maybe 10 or 15 seconds, but damn near caused me to seriously burn myself with spilled coffee? How important is it, really, that someone is going on too long at an AA meeting? Why can't I realize that he or she needs to speak at length to get a point across? These are just a few of the things that can properly screw up my morning or noon-hour or whenever, and I have to keep asking myself, 'How important is it?' What's really important is that I stay sober today. What's really important is that I might make a difference to the still suffering alcoholic out there. What's really important is that I convey something that might show that, somehow, the Steps and Traditions and guiding principles of this wonderful program are kicking in. That's what should be important ... but I keep sweating the small stuff instead of focusing on the Big Picture. I have to stick to my slogan and keep asking myself, 'How important is it?' one more day at a time. Thanks for letting me share.

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